Asian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 5(4): 67-70, 2013
ISSN: 2041-3882; e-ISSN: 2041-3890
© Maxwell Scientific Organization, 2013
Submitted: September 24, 2012
Accepted: December 13, 2012
Published: July 25, 2013
Fertilizer Formulations and Methods of their Application Influences Vegetative
Growth and Productivity in Organic Greenhouse Tomato
N.R. Bhat, M. Albaho, M.K. Suleiman, B. Thomas, P. George,
S. Isat Ali, L. Al-Mulla and V.S. Lekha
Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, P.O. Box 24885, 13109 Safat, Kuwait
Abstract: Investigations were conducted from 2006-2010 in order to develop a package of cultivation practices for
producing organic greenhouse vegetables under Kuwait’s environmental conditions. One of the objectives of these
investigations was to evaluate different organic fertilizer formulations with a view to select fertilizers for organic
greenhouse vegetable production. Commercial organic fertilizer formulations viz. Earth juice, fish hydrosylate
(Neptunes Harvest), seaweed and desert bat guano (Squantos secret) were evaluated in different proportions, either
as soil drench or foliar applications in tomato. Results revealed that soil application of Earth juice products and fish
hydrosylate produced equally good or even better vegetative growth and fruit yields as compared to conventional
fertilizers. Soil application of organic fertilizers was found to be significantly effective than the foliar application.
Keywords: Nutrient management, organic farming, organic fertilizers, protected agriculture
inorganic) on the growth of cabbage showed that
inorganic fertilizer treatments produced plants that were
taller with greater number of leaves/plant, longer leaves
and longer roots at the time of harvest (Hasan and
Solaiman, 2012). A combination of green manure and
treating seeds in solution containing Bacillus sp.,
Improved the yield as well as reduced incidence of scab
incidence in potato (Yossen et al., 2011).
Most of the organic formulations are bye products
of fish, livestock and food processing industries with
variation in their nutrient contents. Bernard and
Berrouard (1994) found blood meal, feather meal, meat
meal, crab shell, fish, cotton seed and whey by-products
to increase shoot weight over non-fertilized plants.
Similarly Greer and Diver (2000) demonstrated that
some algal products, bat guano and fish waste contain
nutrients that are similar to inorganic fertilizer used in
greenhouse production.
The study reported in this paper was conducted
between 2006 and 2010 at KISR, Faisalia Farm, Wafra
and the House of Development (HOD) Farm, Sulaibiya.
The purpose of these studies was to compare different
organic fertilizer formulations applied through soil
and/or foliar application with inorganic fertilizer
formuulations in selected greenhouse vegetables.
Results of studies in tomato are discussed in this study
INTRODUCTION
In recent years, vegetable production under the
protected environment has become an important
agricultural activity in Kuwait (Bhat et al., 2010).
Because of the excessive use of imported production
inputs, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides in growing
fresh vegetables, the local producers are faced with
high production cost, rapid deterioration of soil health
and productive capacity, increased risk of crop failures
and declining crop productivity. The organic farming
system, which has been shown to restore, promote and
sustain soil health and its productive capacity, is
considered crucial to the future of protected
environment food production in Kuwait; however, as
yet, this has not been tried in the country. Therefore,
since 2006, efforts had been underway to develop
practices for organic greenhouse vegetable production
under Kuwait’s environmental conditions.
Sewage Sludge Fertilizer (SSF) and Bark Compost
(BC) were found to be effective, low-cost organic
fertilizers in improving soil fertility by increasing soil
EC as well as soil carbon and nitrogen levels in the soil.
Application of these fertilizers increased the biomass
yield in sorghum (Juniarti et al., 2012). Proper blends
of organic and inorganic fertilizer are important for
increasing yield as well as soil health and its continuous
use speed up the process of reclamation of sodic soil
(Dhanushkodi and Subrahmaniyan, 2012). Nutrient
availability from organic sources at the right time and
in optimum quantity produce balanced plants. A study
to evaluate the performance of fertilizers (organic and
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Raising of seedlings: Certified organic seeds of two
cultivars (Cindel F 1 and Sakura F 1 ) of tomato
(Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) were sown
Corresponding Author: N.R. Bhat, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, P.O. Box 24885, 13109 Safat, Kuwait
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Asian J. Agric. Sci., 5(4): 67-70, 2013
Table 1: Fertilizer formulations and application methods
Nutrient composition
Sr. no
Fertilizer formulation
(N-P-K)
T1
Earth juice products (grow, bloom, 2-1-1, 0-3-1, 0.03-0.01-0.1
catalyst and meta K)
and 0-0-10
T2
Fish hydrosylate (neptune harvest) and 2-4-1 and 1-0-10
soluble seaweed powder
T3
Desert bat guano and soluble seaweed
8-4-1 and 1-0-10
powder
T4
Earth juice products (grow, bloom, 2-1-1, 0-3-1, 0.03-0.01-0.1
and 0-0-10
catalyst and meta K)
T5
Fish hydrosylate (neptune harvest) and 2-4-1 and 1-0-10
soluble seaweed powder
T6
Earth juice products (grow, bloom, 2-1-1, 0-3-1, 0.03-0.01-0.1
catalyst and meta K)
and 0-0-10
T7
Fish hydrosylate (neptune harvest) and 2-4-1 and 1-0-10
soluble seaweed powder
T8
Desert bat guano and soluble seaweed 8-4-1 and 1-0-10
powder
Quantity of stock
solution*
50 mL/L
Method of
appl.
Soil drench
Freq. of appl.
Weekly
50 mL/L
Soil drench
Weekly
10 g bat guano and
5 g seaweed/L
50 mL/L
Soil drench
Foliar spray
Bat guano weekly
and seaweed monthly
Weekly
50 mL/L
Foliar spray
Weekly
100 mL/L
Soil drench
Weekly
100 mL/L
Soil drench
Weekly
20 g bat guano and
10 g seaweed/L
Soil drench
Weekly
Table 2: Average height, number of leaves and per plant yield of
tomato plants (Lycopersicon esculentum cv. Cindel F 1 ) at
140 DAP in different fertilizer treatments
Number of
Per plant fruit
Treatments
Height (cm)
leaves
yield (kg)
T1
205.3b
18.0c
2.80
T2
205.1b
17.3c
2.76
T3
195.3ab
16.4ab
2.56
T4
188.7a
15.7a
2.57
T5
184.9a
16.5ab
2.42
Control
171.1a
15.1a
2.59
Significance ***
*
NS
*: Significant for p<0.05; ***: Significant for p<0.001
individually in 5-cm polyethylene containers filled with
a mixture of sphagnum peat moss; coco peat and perlite
( 2: 0.5: 1 by volume). Seedlings were fertilized weekly
with organic fertilizers, Algafarm soluble K powder
(Valagro, Italy) and Fontana (Memon B. V., Arnhem,
Netherlands) in the nursery.
Production
system:
Twenty-five-litre
flexible
polyethylene containers filled with a locally formulated
organic substrate containing vermicompost; sphagnum
peat moss; coco peat and perlite @ 1: 1: 1: 1 ratio was
used to grow the crop. DOrS (Stanes, India) containing
1.0% N, 0.75% P, 1.0% K, 16% organic carbon was
mixed uniformly in the growing substrate @ 15 kg/m3
prior to the planting of seedlings. One hardened
seedling was planted in wet substrate in each container.
Standard cultural practices were adopted to secure
optimum crop performance (Bhat et al., 2010). The
fertilizer treatments are given in Table 1.
Table 3: Average height, number of leaves, leaf chlorophyll and per
plant yield of cherry tomato plants (Lycopersicon
esculentum cv. Sakura F 1 ) produced in different fertilizer
treatments
Number
Leaf
Per plant fruit
Treatments Height (cm) of leaves chlorophyll yield (kg)
T7
289.3c
18.6
18.8b
2.77b
T8
258.5b
15.7
18.2b
1.85ab
T9
273.4bc
18.6
13.9a
1.95ab
Control
219.1a
15.2
28.2c
2.23a
Significance ***
NS
***
*
*: Significant for p<0.05; ***: Significant for p<0.001; NS: Not
significant; Values followed by the same alphabets within the column
are not significantly different
Experimental design and data analysis: Fertilizer
treatments were replicated three times in a randomized
complete block design. Periodic data on plant height,
number of leaves and chlorophyll index were recorded
on fifteen randomly selected plants in each treatment.
Moderate attacks of whiteflies and leaf curl virus was
noticed but they were controlled by spraying 5 mL/L of
Nimbecidine at weekly intervals. One spray of BioCure
(Trichoderma viride 1.15% WP) was also applied as a
prophylactic measure against fungal infestation.
Nimbecidine spraying was alternated with Garlic
barrier and BioCatch (selective stain of naturally
occurring entomopathogenic fungusof Verticillium
lecanii) sprayings to avoid the building up of resistance
to the pesticide by pest the populations. The data were
analyzed by ANOVA using the “R” procedure
(Crowley, 2005) and significant treatment means were
identified using Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (Little
and Hill, 1978). The data on the 140 D after Planting
(DAP) stage are presented in this study.
RESULTS
Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum cv. Cindel F 1 ):
Tomato plants that received weekly soil applications of
Earth juice products (T 1 ) and fish hydrosylates and
seaweed (T 2 ) fertilizers were taller and contained
greater number leaves than those received foliar
application of these formulations (Table 2). The control
plants were the shortest of all plants with least number
of leaves. Though the plants which received soil
application (T 1 and T 2 ) produced higher yield per plant
than other treatments, there was no significant
difference among treatments with respect to per plant
fruit yield.
Cherry tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum cv. Sakura
F 1 ): Plants that received soil-drench applications of
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Asian J. Agric. Sci., 5(4): 67-70, 2013
Earth juice products (T 6 ) were taller and contained
greater numbers of leaves followed by application of
desert bat guano (T 8 ) and fish hydrosylate (T 7 ) than the
control plants. However, they had lower leaf
chlorophyll levels than those of the plants used as
control (Table 3). Highest yield was obtained for
treatment T 6 with earth juice products than all other
treatments (Table 3). Therefore treatment with Earth
\juice products (T 6 ) was found superior in all the
parameters in the cherry tomato (Lycopersicon
esculentum cv. Sakura F 1 ) cultivation.
subsequent long-term effects on soil fertility is not fully
understood, studies linking the quality of the organic
material to its fertilizer equivalency and its effect on the
longer-term composition of soil organic matter and crop
yields are needed. Additionally, a systematic
framework for investigating the characterization of the
quality of organic materials, assessment of the fertilizer
equivalency value based on the quality of organics and
experimental designs for determining optimal
combinations of nutrient sources is needed.
Severe pest infestations especially of thrips and
whiteflies in the early stages of seedling growth and
their continuing impact on subsequent growth resulted
in disruption flowering and subsequent fruit set and
total yield. The natural pesticides used to control these
pests took longer time to reduce insect populations to
manageable levels. Hence, more efforts are needed to
control insects to allow for uninterrupted vegetative
growth, flowering and fruit set.
DISCUSSION
The results of this investigation demonstrated that
the organic nutrient formulations produced similar
vegetative growth and yields compared to inorganic
fertilizers. These findings are in conformity with those
reported by several researchers (Anderson, 2000;
Delate et al., 2003; Rippy et al., 2004; Juniarti et al.,
2012).
These
researchers
have
successfully
demonstrated that plants fertilized with organic
fertilizer formulations and grown in organic production
systems produce vegetative growths and yields that are
similar to those produced with inorganic fertilizers and
intensive production systems In fact, in beans, Temple
and Bomke (1989) reported 24% higher harvestable
yields with foliar applications of sea weed fertilizer.
Similarly, Czizinsky (1984) obtained as much as 99%
higher yields in tomato with organic fertilizers. Crouch
and Van Staden (1992) also reported increases in the
fresh weights in early cucumbers and tomatoes.
According to Aung and Flick (1980) and Emino (1981)
plants receiving soil-drenching applications of fishsoluble nutrients or inorganic fertilizers produced
similar growth and yield. In sorghum, Juniarti et al.
(2012) found application of organic materials such as
sewage sludge and bark compost to significantly
increase biomass production by improving soil fertility,
especially, carbon and nitrogen levels.
A majority of organic formulations currently
available for crop production are the byeproducts of
fish, livestock and food processing industries. These
products vary significantly in nutrient contents,
processing methods used, rate of release of various
nutrients and immobilization of nutrients. Apart from
nutrients, the organic materials contain a number of
vitamins and growth regulators (Bhat et al., 2007, 2010;
Crouch and Van Staden, 1993). A good organic
fertilizer formulation should contain nutrients to sustain
initial plant growth and release them slowly and
uniformly throughout the duration of the crop
(Christensen, 1985). Considerable fluctuations in the
availability of nutrients, especially ammonium,
potassium and phosphorus during the production period
can be expected due to composting processes (Jensen
and Leth, 1998). Since the dynamics of release of
nutrients from organic fertilizer formulations and their
CONCLUSION
Results of the experiments reported in this study
suggested that in tomato it was possible to produce
acceptable yields with organic fertilizer formulations
such as Earth juice products and Fish hydrosylate. Soildrenching applications were found to be better than
foliar applications in increasing vegetative growth and
yield in greenhouse tomato.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank the Kuwait
Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait Foundation for
the Advancement of Sciences, Mr. Faisal Sultan AlEssa and Mr. Hamad Al-Anjari for supporting this
study.
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